SpaceX has launched its Starship spacecraft from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on a critical test flight that sent the 171-foot-tall vehicle into orbit for the first time.

At 7:48 am CT, Starship’s Super Heavy booster ignited its 33 rocket engines to send the spacecraft on its 14th flight. Two-and-a-half minutes after launch, Starship separated from the booster and continued its flight. One of the six engines on Starship failed on the ascent, leading SpaceX to determine whether it would continue the flight to orbit. At about 22 minutes into the flight, the team decided the vehicle could continue on its orbital flight path.

Super Heavy is designed to be reusable by returning to its launch site, where it is caught by the launch tower. This booster, however, simulated a landing offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX is testing upgrades to the booster’s software and hardware during this flight. No one is on board for this mission.

The 10-hour flight plan for Starship includes approximately six orbits around the Earth at an altitude of about 170 miles. Previous Starship flights have been suborbital. Starship 14 is the first time the vehicle will reach orbital speeds — about 17,500 mph. SpaceX says this mission’s launch profile includes portions that would allow Starship to abort its orbital trajectory and return to Earth safely.

During its flight, SpaceX intends to deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites into its constellation of thousands of internet satellites that provide broadband access worldwide. SpaceX regularly launches Starlink satellites from Florida and California using its Falcon 9 rocket, but announced the final mission from Florida last month with plans to launch exclusively with Starship from Cape Canaveral in the future.

If all goes as planned during Monday’s flight, Starship will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile. Eventually, SpaceX wants to recover the spacecraft and reuse it.